Privacy is the general right to be left alone and free from unwanted publicity. There are four well-established lawsuits for invasion of privacy: appropriation, false light, intrusion, and disclosure. This article gives examples of appropriation lawsuits. Appropriation is defined as the use of a person’s name, likeness, or personality for the benefit of another. Defenses include that the matter is public or that the person who’s privacy was invaded gave consent

Under the legal doctrine of comparative negligence, when both the plaintiff and the defendant are guilty of negligence, the plaintiff’s damage award will be reduced by the amount of his responsibility for the accident. For example, a motorcycle rider collides with a truck driver at an intersection.

If a party is injured by some act of a governmental unit, official, or agency, he may or may not be permitted to sue. The reason that he may be barred from suing is because of “sovereign immunity.” Traditionally, this doctrine protected governmental units, officials, and agencies from liability based on their tortious acts unless they had consented to being sued. Now, this immunity has been waived in large part and only applies in certain circumstances.

Apart from legislation granting a right to sue for a specific harm, personal injury law generally consists of tort law and the civil procedure for enforcing it. One of the purposes of tort law is to provide compensation for damages. This article discusses punitive damages.